Five reasons why I loved "Iron Man 3"

1. "Iron Man 3" brings a sense of realism back to the Marvel Universe while also raising the stakes.

 "The Avengers" ends with a cataclysmic battle between superheroes and alien invaders over, around and through the city of New York. Oh, and a nuclear missile thrown through an interstellar wormhole by a billionaire playboy wearing a flying robotic suit of armor.

"Iron Man 3" shows a hero still reeling from the effects of that experience, and pits against him (and the world) a very real, relatable threat. Americans were recently reacquainted with the spectre of terrorism on our home turf, so The Mandarin — with his slick propaganda videos, Bin Laden-esque visage and determination to kill innocent people — doesn't feel like a ludicrous supervillain. We know that real people are capable of such horrors.

Tony Stark's crusade against The Mandarin begins, sans suit, in a small town in Tennessee, where he sees the aftermath of one of the presumed attacks. Here we see Tony Stark stripped of his power, his allies and his enormous mansion, and for the first time in a long time the Marvel Universe feels like it exists in ours. Tony has to rediscover the ingenuity he once had in that cave in Afghanistan, resulting in two wonderful action scenes that dazzle us even though that iron mask is nowhere to be found.

Bringing this superhero back down to Earth could have worked against the film's third act, when the action rockets way over the top, but the story and characters build in such a way that the film's pyrotechnics feel like the natural outcome. This is no small feat for director Shane Black, who is as essential to this film as Joss Whedon was to "The Avengers."

2. The screenplay by Shane Black and Drew Pearce is truly funny.

"Thor" mostly didn't work for me because the jokes fell flat. (And Kat Dennings was interminable, and the product placement was really distracting, and Tom Hiddleston hadn't quite found his groove ... but enough about that.) "Iron Man 3" of course benefits from Robert Downey Jr.'s effortless charm and natural good humor, but the script seemingly goes out of its way to give us moments of levity amid a film full of pretty grim stuff.

Improbably, it works. The biggest mistake "Thor" made was to rely on pop culture references in telling fish-out-of-water jokes. "Iron Man 3" has its share of pop culture jokes, yes, but the bulk of the humor grows organically from the characters or informs us about them in some way.

And hey, Robert Downey Jr. doesn't even get the funniest line in the movie.  

3. S.H.I.E.L.D. is out of the picture.

My main problem with the Marvel Universe films prior to "The Avengers" was how concerned they were with selling "The Avengers." "Iron Man 2" was particularly guilty of this, handing large sections of the film over to Agent Coulson, Black Widow and Nick Fury instead of trying to make us care about Ivan Vanko and Justin Hammer. (I mean, did you ever care about those characters? I sure didn't.)

"Iron Man 3" puts the focus right where I wanted it, on Tony and those close to him. Those high stakes I mentioned before are also very personal — the way the film plays out, we feel like anything could happen to anyone. Everyone knew the superfriends would triumph in "The Avengers," but there are moments in "Iron Man 3" that test our confidence, and that's a very good thing.

I really can't think of a good reason why Tony didn't enlist S.H.I.E.L.D.'s help to fight The Mandarin, but I also can't think of a good reason why I should care, given how good the movie is without them.

4. I found myself humming the theme on the way out of the theater.

For years, I have bitched and moaned about the lack of rousing, recognizable musical themes in superhero movies. I was baffled by Danny Elfman's score for "Spider-Man" — the guy who gave us the iconic Tim Burton "Batman" theme couldn't give us anything to grasp? — and Hans Zimmer's "Dark Knight" scores, while effective, certainly aren't hummable. Alan Silvestri had a near-miss with "Captain America: The First Avenger," and his perfectly wonderful theme for "The Avengers" was woefully underused.

Then there's the music for the first two "Iron Man" flicks. John Debney gave us a score as bland as "Iron Man 2's" villains, but even that was light years better than Ramin Djawadi's downright offensive efforts in the first film. Crunching, tuneless rock guitars interspersed with AC/DC songs do not an effective score make.

But Brian Tyler, of all people, comes to the rescue in "Iron Man 3," giving Tony Stark the melodic and anthemic music he deserves. (And AC/DC? Nowhere to be heard. Unless I'm forgetting something.) Tyler's previous work had not impressed me, but he gets a tip of the cap for this one.

5. The movie isn't afraid to take risks. (This section contains A VERY BIG SPOILER.)

The fine web-based film critic @scottEweinberg tweeted this earlier today: "Congrats to @marvel, not for the opening weekend, but for making a good film despite knowing it would be a smash hit anyway."

Marvel and Jon Favreau made a risky bet in casting Robert Downey Jr. for "Iron Man," and it paid off handsomely. That spirit continues in "Iron Man 3," which enlisted the services of Shane Black, a writer/director not known for crowd-pleasing kiddie movies. The result is an unlikely success that is very much a Shane Black movie, but also very much an Iron Man movie.

But perhaps the biggest risk taken in "Iron Man 3" is the subversion of The Mandarin, Tony's biggest villain in the comic book world. The film's big twist reveals that The Mandarin is just an actor, and that the Extremis-producing scientist Aldrich Killian is pulling the strings.

Turning The Mandarin into a boogeyman played by a desperate addict is a crazy idea that works for a number of reasons: The ads never hinted at it, the casting of Ben Kingsley doesn't suggest it (and pays off in big laughs), and Aldrich Killian turns out to be a very formidable foe indeed. I'm sure hardcore fans of the Iron Man comics are upset with this twist; as someone who is strictly a fan of the films, I have no problem with it.

In conclusion

"Iron Man 3" is not a perfect film. I thought it was a bit dodgy until The Mandarin's assault on Tony's home, and that some of Black's more unsavory tics were on display. Rhodey gets marginalized again, and I found myself wishing that it had been a Downey/Cheadle buddy pic or that Cheadle had been cut altogether. And clearly, those infected with Extremis should have burned through all their clothes. (Right???)

But I don't demand perfection from my superhero movies. I do demand that, in this age of superhero saturation, they try to surprise and delight us. "Iron Man 3" certainly did that.

My favorite movies of 2012

I've seen more movies in the theater in the past 17 years than anyone I know who isn't a professional film critic. I have every ticket stub since a Saturday afternoon show of "Pulp Fiction" in January 1995. Last time I counted all of them, which was about a year ago, I had just over 900 stubs in my collection.

But the past couple years have been different -- I don't like going to the movies as much as I used to, thanks mostly to the behavior of my fellow moviegoers. But there are other factors: I no longer live two minutes from my favorite theater, I have to be smarter with my money, and, the best reason of all, I'm not such a lonely bastard anymore. (Suddenly, spending time with my live-in girlfriend and our dog seems better than going to see "Jack Reacher," you know?)

I've kept a movie diary of sorts every year since I graduated college; a complete rundown of every movie I've seen, whether I saw it in the theater or at home, and how many stars I'd give it. In 2006, I saw 93 new movies -- that's 93 movies actually released in 2006. I saw 49 of those in a theater.

This year, I am almost embarrassed to say I saw only 28 movies (17 in the theater). In this time of year-end roundups, I keep reading things that say 2012 is the best year for movies since 1999, a magical year that gave us "Magnolia," "The Matrix," "American Beauty," "Three Kings," "Run Lola Run," "The Sixth Sense," "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut" and approximately 11 billion other great, iconic and groundbreaking movies. Hopefully I'll catch up with enough movies in the next few months on Netflix and such to find out if I agree with that statement.

But for now, I can only report on the 28 films I've seen. I'd feel silly making a ranked top-ten list from such a small sample size, so I'll instead list the handful of great and almost-great movies I saw in the last 12 months, alphabetically. Here we go:

THE BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR

"Cloud Atlas," directed by Andy & Lana Wachowski and Tom Tykwer -- Six stories set in six different time periods. The same actors appear in all six stories as different characters, and sometimes those characters are a different race or gender than the actor playing them. One story has Tom Hanks and Halle Berry speaking in broken English for its entirety. One has Hugo Weaving as an enormous female nurse. Oh, and all of these stories and characters are connected in some way. If this sounds like too much, it is -- and that's why I love this movie. Adapting David Mitchell's novel of the same name was thought to be impossible, and many viewers of "Cloud Atlas" insist that it remains to be. But if you allow it, "Cloud Atlas" will sweep you away with its audacity. It is by turns warm, cold, funny, tragic, small, large, hopeful, awe-inspiring and even confounding. It is the kind of movie I hope to see every year. (Available on Blu-ray/DVD Feb. 5)

"Looper," d. Rian Johnson -- Movies rarely surprise me anymore. "Looper" did, multiple times. (There were even some gasps involved.) Johnson wrote the ingenious screenplay built upon this basic premise: In the future, mobsters use time travel to dispose of bodies. They send a mark back 30 years, where a hitman called a 'looper' is waiting with a shotgun. One day, a looper (Joseph Gordon Levitt) hesitates to pull the trigger when his mark turns out to be the future version of himself (Bruce Willis). That's all I knew about the plot before watching "Looper" earlier today, and that's all I think you should know. I'm getting all giddy again just thinking about it. What a great year for sci-fi fans! (Available now on demand and Blu-ray/DVD)

"Moonrise Kingdom," d. Wes Anderson -- Here it is, the film Anderson's entire career has been building toward. All of his quirks and trademarks mesh in this tale of two 12-year-olds who run away together on an island in New England. Anderson's visual aesthetic -- which has always reminded me of a living illustration from a children's book -- fits this story perfectly, and the romance between the two young leads (Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward) is a wistful dream; it feels like something I've always dreamed of, even if I didn't know I had. And of course it's very funny, especially when Jason Schwartzman shows up near the end of the picture. (Available now on demand and Blu-ray/DVD)

THE RUNNERS-UP

"The Cabin in the Woods," d. Drew Goddard -- The less said about this movie, the better; its third act is even more surprising than "Looper," though I don't think the rest of the movie holds up quite as well upon reflection. (But maybe it doesn't have to.) Co-written and produced by Joss Whedon, "Cabin in the Woods" sat on a shelf for three years when MGM went bankrupt and was dumped into theaters in April just weeks before Whedon would conquer the world with "The Avengers." If you are a horror fan, you have to see this -- just don't bail in the first few minutes because you think you're watching the wrong movie. (Available now on demand and Blu-ray/DVD)

"The Dark Knight Rises," d. Christopher Nolan -- I don't want to hear about the plot holes. The plot holes don't matter. What matters is that Nolan injected emotion into the mythic, monumental third act of his Batman trilogy, and an ending that sent me out of the theater with a gigantic smile on my face. I could watch those last five minutes over and over again. (Available now on demand and Blu-ray/DVD)

"Django Unchained," d. Quentin Tarantino -- The most brutal film of Tarantino's career, by far. (And this is the guy that made "Kill Bill.") Gory, unsettling and provocative, "Django" shows us the true horror of slavery in graphic detail, but also revels in its ballet of bloodshed. It's almost like a feature-length extension of "Inglourious Basterds'" final sequence, in which we cheer the deaths of a theater full of people who were cheering the deaths of the people they were watching on a theater screen. (Got that?) The racial politics of and in this movie are tricky, and could probably inspire one hell of a film-school term paper -- and some heated arguments between moviegoers. While not as purely entertaining as some of QT's other works, this could, over time, prove to be his most important. We shall see. (In theaters now)

"The Grey," d. Joe Carnahan --It was advertised as "Liam Neeson Kills Wolves." It's actually a dead-serious, sometimes thoughtful, always intriguing tale of survival. Neeson does some of his career-best work as a hunter working for an Alaska oil company who attempts to lead his co-workers to salvation after their plane crashes in the wild. Not everything that happens in this movie is plausible, but the well-written characters go a long way in selling it -- there are some absolutely devastating scenes along the way to its divisive ending. (Available now on demand, streaming on Netflix, and on Blu-ray/DVD)

THE BEST OF THE REST: "Argo." "Bernie." "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey." "Seven Psychopaths." "Wreck-it Ralph." And most of "Prometheus," the most baffling and frustrating movie of the year. (But that's another post for another time.)

Those are my picks. What say you?

TRON's last chance?

When The Hollywood Reporter broke the news last week of Disney moving forward on a "TRON: Legacy" sequel, I was honestly shocked. The 2010 film was a very big, very expensive gamble for Walt Disney Pictures. Though a $400 million worldwide gross seems to indicate a solid hit, there aren't too many people in the industry or the movie blogosphere who honestly believe the picture only cost $170 million to make. (Hah. Only.) Then you throw in the marketing costs, which were obviously substantial -- honestly, had you ever imagined the TRON brand being as visible, as all-encompassing as it was in the last few months before "Legacy" dropped?

Given TRON's potential value as a long-term franchise that would appeal to males, Disney was counting on this improbable sequel to be among the highest-grossing movies of 2010. Here in North America, it just barely squeaked past the Coen brothers' remake of "True Grit" for the No. 12 spot. (Thanks, 3D IMAX!) The critical reception was generally better than you probably think it was, and all of those positive reviews basically said the same thing: It looks great. It sounds great. But it's often dull and dumb, and the Clu head-replacement gag doesn't quite work. I love the movie and have seen it 15 times or more, and I generally agree with those statements.

"TRON: Legacy" didn't leave a huge impression on many people aside from the already-converted, but it did sell a lot of soundtrack CDs and downloads -- and it probably helped Best Buy sell some 60-inch 3D TV sets. The "TRON: Uprising" animated series elicited oohs and aahs from the hardcores, but has already been doomed to a midnight time-slot on Disney XD. Until last week's news broke, I assumed my dreams of a "TRON 3," a TRON attraction at Disneyland and another album of incredible music by Daft Punk had been dashed.

But Walt Disney Pictures' new chairman, Alan Horn, isn't ready to give up on Flynn and friends. "TRON 3" has a new writer named Jesse Wigutow and at least one star on board. The no-name writer of the Michael & Kirk Douglas weepy "It Runs in the Family" and the rather bland presence of Garrett Hedlund (Sam Flynn) don't exactly inspire confidence, but I'm not going to refuse a third TRON movie under any circumstances.

What can we expect from this new movie? One can reasonably assume that Disney doesn't want to spend quite as much on "TRON 3" as they did on "TRON: Legacy," which could put most of the movie's action in the real world (also known as a studio backlot). Lucky for them, Sam and Quorra (Olivia Wilde) escaped The Grid at the end of the second movie, and there's already a potential villain waiting for them in the form of Edward Dillinger Jr. (Cillian Murphy). Will Jeff Bridges return as Kevin Flynn? Probably, but I bet we won't see him until the last 10 minutes of the movie.

We can also expect the screenplay to stick to the current blockbuster playbook: Extravagant opening action scene. A villain out for revenge who gets captured halfway through the movie, only to escape and up the stakes. Lots of explosions. An ending that wraps things up but teases another sequel.

But forget expectations; what do we want? I can think of a few things:

• A TRON movie that actually gives TRON (Bruce Boxleitner) a big role would be nice.

• More focus on Quorra. Wilde did everything she could to inject life into a movie that needed it, and a more substantial role for her in "TRON 3" would definitely help the movie and would almost certainly vault her into the superstardom she deserves -- assuming the movie is well-received.

• The Grid bleeding into the real world. I want to see blue and orange trails taking out Priuses on the San Diego Freeway. I want to see a Recognizer floating over Graumann's Chinese Theater.

• A real sense of danger. Maybe you kill off a main character halfway through. (Like Sam!)

• Small parts for Cindy Morgan and Dan Shor.

• Better dialogue. (Is that asking too much?)

Hopefully "TRON 3" (or "TRON: Revenge," or "TRON: Clu Rises," or "TRON: Dark Grid" or whatever) is a huge success, and ten years from now we'll all be lining up to ride a lightcycle at Magic Kingdom. Until then, I guess Test Track 2.0 will do!

What do you want from a new TRON movie?